Molasses cookies! I’ve been craving molasses cookies! When I went through some boxes a few weeks ago, still trying to get unpacked and organized around here, I found a bunch of my old favorite recipes cards, but not the one with my molasses cookies. Bereft, I started searching out molasses cookie recipes, hoping to find something that looked familiar and yet not really remembering what the recipe was like. I finally turned to the church ladies, who never let me down, and came up with this one, which still didn’t feel quite right but was close. So I changed it around some till it felt like my recipe, you know the one I couldn’t really remember anyway, but I was going with my gut instincts here…..

Cream butter and sugar. (The church ladies’ recipe calls for shortening here–Crisco–but that just didn’t feel right to me. I knew in my hot, buttery heart that my recipe used butter, so I went with butter. Or I just love butter. But you can use shortening. You can even use margerine if you want. Three sticks of butter is a lot of butter. THAT’S WHY THESE COOKIES ARE SO GOOD.)
Stir in eggs and molasses.

Farm-fresh eggs are the best! (I love my chickens!)
Add soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and salt. Stir to combine. (The church ladies advised 1 1/2 teaspoon cloves and no nutmeg at all, but that didn’t sound right to me. That sounded like a lot of cloves. Ground cloves are pretty strong and I tend to not like to include it too heavily in recipes, so I just knew it was an “off” element for the cookies I was craving. I reduced the cloves to 1/2 teaspoon and made up the other teaspoon with nutmeg.)

Oh my, just the scent of all these spices had me drooling.
Stir in flour.

Now here the church ladies think you should make a big ball of the dough and chill it for a couple hours then shape it into little balls to roll in sugar before baking. You know me better than that! I’m not going to do that. Instead, I spooned big clumps of it onto waxed paper and fiddled around with it to make it into logs for slicing.
I have this weird thing about touching cookie dough. It’s icky and I’d rather not touch it. Which is weird because I’ve always got my hands in bread dough, but I don’t have to make sense, do I? I finagle it around to where I don’t actually have to touch the dough and twist the ends.
Chill for an hour or two till it’s easy to slice.
Place slices on a greased cookie sheet. Sprinkle with sugar. My mother gave me this sugar shaker years ago and I love it. It’s fun to use for no good reason.
I like to sprinkle some of this natural cane sugar on cookies sometimes, too. It has more of a “syrupy” taste to it than regular granulated sugar. The flavor, in fact, is a lot like molasses, so it’s perfect for molasses cookies. (It’s great in coffee, too!)
Bake at 375-degrees for 8-10 minutes. Yum!!!!
People often ask what kind of cookies Clover eats, so since this is a cookie post, here it is:
The cookies I give Clover are animal cracker cookies. She loves them.

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Comments

Good morning! Tell Clover I have that brandof animal crackers in my pantry right now, so if she wants to visit, we’re covered! That’s kind of a weird thought though, feeding animal crackers to an animal.

I sure hope that Clover’s sister Cookie Dough and the rest of the herd don’t find out about you serving homemade molasses cookies over at the Stringtown Rising Cafe. It could lead to a major insurrection here in Goatville.

Ok Suzanne,
These cookies look really yummy….but what on earth is that thing in the jar in the picture of your cute sugar shaker that your mom gave you??????
Inquiring minds want to know!
BethAnn…in western Michigan where we got 8 inches of snow yesterday and it took me twice as long to drive my high schooler to school this morning! I’m glad I homeschool the others and we can just cozy up by the fire!

Snow. I want snow. Please.
I know those of you that live in the North detest it. But we only get a light dusting occasionally, well, except for the year 1993 when we had LOTS, and were snowed in for over a week, with no power and no water. Cause well you know, us southerners just don’t know how to cope with it.

This reminds me of your conversation with Clover. My cats are the same way about cat treats, follow me into the kitchen everytime I go in there expecting treats. I’ll say you’ve got to be kidding :catmeow:

It looks like Clover’s eyes are half closed in bliss. Must be some great cookies!

Jillybean, speaking for myself, I certainly don’t detest snow! At least, not in November, December, January or February. In March, April and May, it is getting a little old. OK, I do detest it in June.

Those look yummy. I keep meaning to bake some cookies. Have a little two-legged cookie monster to keep up with here. I actually tried giving my goats some animal crackers and they acted like I was crazy! Were they bothered that I picked out goat shaped ones for them? :rotfl:
I found your blog when I searched for Nigerian Goats and WV. We live pretty close to Walton, and I was looking for a boyfriend for my girls. Do you know of any local breeders who have stud goats?
It’s great to find another WV blogger. We’re doing the goats and chickens thing, too. I couldn’t help laughing at some of your posts. Sounds a lot like what we’ve gotten ourselves into also. Waiting on eggs here still and saw you went through the same thing.
Have a great day!
-Jenny-

I think Clover certainly deserves a good homemade cookie from time to time. I haven’t had my goats for too long and they haven’t been interested in any handouts from me but I’ll keep working with ’em. Although they came from a good breeder, I don’t think she ever offered them anything like that. Yeah, for fresh eggs, can’t turn back to store-bought now.

G’ day Suzanne
I’m from New Zealand and I was curious about molasses cookies. I found a very intense recipe for them and WOW. Unfortunately it wasn’t yours. I found your site coz I’m now after crust French bread. I enjoy the pics of your animals. I, too, live on a farm. I have a mad cat that insists on chasing the sheep. Good fun while having the morning tea (and molasses cookies.) I’ve just made a huge pot of boil-up, (NZ stew-type soup. Very filling in winter. Will share recipe if curious.), and the French bread will go perfect with it.
Cheers
Kiwi

Suzanne, I know this is almost a year old, but I have to try these. My grandmother used to make some that had sassafras frosting on them and I now have to sassafras, but not an oven anymore, so maybe I will try them with the roaster. I can cook lots of things in there.

I’m happy to see you using Florida Crystals Demerara Sugar. We love using it in everything from baked goods to hot tea because it has a rich caramel-ly flavor. It’s also eco-friendly and less processed. No, I’m not affiliated with them at all; I just appreciate a good product.

I realize this is a 5 year old post, but I just read your book and started reading (all) your blog. I know I’m late, but I got here as soon as I could!

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